Three- to Four-Year-Old Children Rapidly Adapt Their Predictions and Use Them to Learn Novel Word Meanings

Naomi Havron; Alex de Carvalho; Anne Caroline Fiévet; Anne Christophe

doi:10.1111/cdev.13113

Three- to Four-Year-Old Children Rapidly Adapt Their Predictions and Use Them to Learn Novel Word Meanings

Naomi Havron, Alex de Carvalho, Anne Caroline Fiévet, Anne Christophe

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Adults create and update predictions about what speakers will say next. This study asks whether prediction can drive language acquisition, by testing whether 3- to 4-year-old children (n = 45) adapt to recent information when learning novel words. The study used a syntactic context which can precede both nouns and verbs to manipulate children's predictions about what syntactic category will follow. Children for whom the syntactic context predicted verbs were more likely to infer that a novel word appearing in this context referred to an action, than children for whom it predicted nouns. This suggests that children make rapid changes to their predictions, and use this information to learn novel information, supporting the role of prediction in language acquisition.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	82-90
Number of pages	9
Journal	Child Development
Volume	90
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13113
State	Published - 1 Jan 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a postdoctoral grant to Naomi Havron from the French Embassy in Israel and the Victor Smor-gon Charitable Fund, and by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grants no. ANR-13-APPR-0012, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL* and ANR-10-LABX-0087 IEC). We thank Axel Barrault for help with testing; Isabelle Dautriche for help with data analysis; the school and children for their participation, as well as the children who participated in the videos and their parents.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Society for Research in Child Development

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Education
Developmental and Educational Psychology

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10.1111/cdev.13113

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title = "Three- to Four-Year-Old Children Rapidly Adapt Their Predictions and Use Them to Learn Novel Word Meanings",

abstract = "Adults create and update predictions about what speakers will say next. This study asks whether prediction can drive language acquisition, by testing whether 3- to 4-year-old children (n = 45) adapt to recent information when learning novel words. The study used a syntactic context which can precede both nouns and verbs to manipulate children's predictions about what syntactic category will follow. Children for whom the syntactic context predicted verbs were more likely to infer that a novel word appearing in this context referred to an action, than children for whom it predicted nouns. This suggests that children make rapid changes to their predictions, and use this information to learn novel information, supporting the role of prediction in language acquisition.",

author = "Naomi Havron and {de Carvalho}, Alex and Fi{\'e}vet, {Anne Caroline} and Anne Christophe",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by a postdoctoral grant to Naomi Havron from the French Embassy in Israel and the Victor Smor-gon Charitable Fund, and by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grants no. ANR-13-APPR-0012, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL* and ANR-10-LABX-0087 IEC). We thank Axel Barrault for help with testing; Isabelle Dautriche for help with data analysis; the school and children for their participation, as well as the children who participated in the videos and their parents. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Society for Research in Child Development",

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doi = "10.1111/cdev.13113",

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N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by a postdoctoral grant to Naomi Havron from the French Embassy in Israel and the Victor Smor-gon Charitable Fund, and by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grants no. ANR-13-APPR-0012, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL* and ANR-10-LABX-0087 IEC). We thank Axel Barrault for help with testing; Isabelle Dautriche for help with data analysis; the school and children for their participation, as well as the children who participated in the videos and their parents. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Society for Research in Child Development

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N2 - Adults create and update predictions about what speakers will say next. This study asks whether prediction can drive language acquisition, by testing whether 3- to 4-year-old children (n = 45) adapt to recent information when learning novel words. The study used a syntactic context which can precede both nouns and verbs to manipulate children's predictions about what syntactic category will follow. Children for whom the syntactic context predicted verbs were more likely to infer that a novel word appearing in this context referred to an action, than children for whom it predicted nouns. This suggests that children make rapid changes to their predictions, and use this information to learn novel information, supporting the role of prediction in language acquisition.

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Three- to Four-Year-Old Children Rapidly Adapt Their Predictions and Use Them to Learn Novel Word Meanings

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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